Gemma 3 12B needs ~15.8 GB VRAM. Tesla P40 24GB has 24.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~29 tok/s.
Operating mode
Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.
Current mode
Balanced
Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.
Select quantization to explore
Fit status
Runs well
Decode
29.3 tok/s
TTFT
6611 ms
Safe context
43K
Memory
15.8 GB / 24.0 GB
This setup is broadly balanced for this model.
Older PCIe generation
PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | A | Runs well | 29.3 tok/s | 3606 ms | 43K |
| Coding | A | Runs well | 29.3 tok/s | 6611 ms | 43K |
| Agentic Coding | A | Tight fit | 29.3 tok/s | 9617 ms | 43K |
| Reasoning | A | Runs well | 29.3 tok/s | 7814 ms | 43K |
| RAG | A | Tight fit | 27.9 tok/s | 12622 ms | 43K |
How Gemma 3 12B (12B params) fits at each quantization level on Tesla P40 24GB (24.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 4.7 GB | Low | A75 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 5.9 GB | Low | A76 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run Gemma 3 12B on your machine.
Run
ollama run gemma3:12bYour hardware
| Model | Params | Grade | Decode | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30.5B | S | 30.9 tok/s | ||
| 27B | S | 13.4 tok/s |
Yes, Tesla P40 24GB can run Gemma 3 12B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 29.3 tok/s.
Gemma 3 12B (12B parameters) requires approximately 15.8 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Gemma 3 12B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On Tesla P40 24GB, Gemma 3 12B achieves approximately 29.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6611ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Gemma 3 12B on Tesla P40 24GB receives a A grade with 29.3 tok/s and 43K context.
On Tesla P40 24GB, Gemma 3 12B can safely use up to 43K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/gemma-3-12b-on-tesla-p40-24gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
6.7 GB |
| Medium |
| A76 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 7.3 GB | Medium | A76 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 8.6 GB | High | A77 |
Q6_K | 6 | 9.8 GB | High | A78 |
Q8_0Best for your GPU | 8 | 12.8 GB | Very High | A80 |
F16 | 16 | 24.6 GB | Maximum | F0 |
| 27B | S | 13.4 tok/s |
| 30B | S | 31.9 tok/s |
| 35B | A | 16.7 tok/s |